Wealthy, efficient Dutch play catch-up in vaccine roll-out

Tim van der Ham, healthcare worker poses for the picture in Zwammerdam, Netherlands February 15, 2021. Picture taken February 15, 2021. REUTERS/Eva Plevier

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Despite its wealth and reputation for efficiency, the Netherlands trails in the European Union vaccination rankings, its roll-out hampered by poor planning and a conservative strategy that kept more than 40% of its vaccines in storage rather than in people's arms.

The Netherlands only began vaccinating on Jan. 6, the last EU country to do so. It had wrongly assumed that the first vaccine to be approved would not require a deep freeze supply-chain and was slow to respond when it did.